Author: Conor Forrest

According to a recent survey by easytrip, the thing that frustrates Irish motorists the most on the motorway is when people don’t use their indicators. If you ask me, that should be extended to every single road – for the most part indicators are either used sparingly or when the driver has already started making their turn, which really defeats their purpose.

BMW Ireland has just announced its Lower Emissions Incentive Allowance, essentially a €2,000 grant towards a new electric, hybrid or standard model with CO2 emissions of 130g/km or less.

Available until December 31st, to qualify for the scheme you’ll need to trade in a diesel vehicle that meets the Euro-4 emissions standard or below. If you don’t have any idea what that means, BMW has developed a handy online tool to see if your old car qualifies.

Keeping your tyres properly inflated will both save you money and improve your safety on the road – underinflated tyres result in worse fuel efficiency and increase stopping distances and the risk of aquaplaning. The risk can be even greater in heavier vehicles with larger load weights than your average family car.

If you’ve ever driven an electric vehicle (EV), you might know the frustration of arriving at a charge point only to discover there are no free spaces. If you’re running low on juice, it could mean a worrying and rather slow drive to the next available location.

Zap-Map, however, aims to fix this. One of the leading charging platforms in the UK, Zap-Map has just announced the launch of its app for EV drivers in the Republic of Ireland, incorporating live data from ESB and its network of over 1,200 charge points across the country.

Electric motorbikes aren’t a new concept by any means, but a newly launched e-motorbike promises to ‘reinvent urban mobility’.

Across the Irish Sea, the Super Soco is being styled as the UK’s first affordable e-motorbike, the result of a partnership between Australian electric scooter company V-Moto and a Chinese crowd-funded project to the tune of $15m, which is now being imported into Europe.

This is the new Mercedes X-Class, the German brand’s first ever pick-up, designed to bridge the gap between its range of SUVs and its commercial vehicle cohort.

Launching across Europe later this year, the X-Class will be quite the workhouse judging by the stats, capable of carting around a payload of 1.1 tonnes, which Mercedes has handily converted into seventeen 50L barrels of beer, making you the undisputed life and soul of the party. Towing strength stands at 3.5 tonnes, once again measured a little differently in the form of a trailer with exactly three horses or an eight-metre yacht. I think a picture is forming of Mercedes’ intended audience.

Toyota Ireland has launched a new mobile app that is designed to save lives on Ireland’s roads by changing driver behaviour.

Face It Down, available on iOS and Android, has been launched in partnership with the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and Topaz. The app rewards drivers who put their phone face down while driving with points that can be redeemed for complimentary hot drinks at Re Store locations around the country.